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Absorption (electromagnetic radiation) - Wikipedia
Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)
In physics, absorption of electromagnetic radiation is how matter (typically electrons bound in atoms) takes up a photon’s energy —and so transforms electromagnetic energy into internal energy of the absorber (for example, thermal energy).1
A notable effect of the absorption of electromagnetic radiation is attenuation of the radiation; attenuation is the gradual reduction of the intensity of light waves as they propagate through a medium.
Although the absorption of waves does not usually depend on their intensity (linear absorption), in certain conditions (optics) the medium’s transparency changes by a factor that varies as a function of wave intensity, and saturable absorption (or nonlinear absorption) occurs.
Printed 2026-06-28.
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Link to original Footnotes
Baird, Christopher S. (September 2019). “Absorption of electromagnetic radiation”. AccessScience. McGraw-Hill. doi:10.1036/1097-8542.001600. Retrieved 17 June 2023. ↩
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